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Monday, 4 January 2016

No clarity on number
of terrorists after firing, explosions inside Air Force base in ‘afternoon’;
martyrs’ toll climbs up

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3

Indicating that it
was unsure of how many terrorists were holed up in the Pathankot air base
premises, the Centre today said that the security forces had contained two
terrorists in a specified area, besides neutralising four of them. Yesterday,
the Punjab DGP had put the figure of those gunned down at five.

The counter-terror
operations continued for the second consecutive day and the forces would be
able to sanitise the campus by night, as the operation was in its last leg, the
government hoped. There was no news of that till last reports came in.

Editorial: Stay the
Lahore course

Union Home Secretary
Rajiv Mehrishi, at a press conference, refused to take questions on the
contradiction between his claim that the “operation continues” and that of Home
Minister Rajnath Singh, who yesterday said in a Twitter post that the operation
had ended with the killing of five terrorists. Rajnath, however, later deleted
his Twitter post.

Mehrishi said, “We are
sure that still there are at least two more terrorists as firing has come from
two places. But we are not sure whether there are some more. We will come to
know the number of terrorists only after completion of the operation and body
count.”

While confirming
that four terrorists were killed in the gunfight yesterday and the firing
resumed today afternoon at two places in the air base, Mehrishi, when asked
repeatedly about the Home Minister’s tweets, said, “I am giving you authentic
information and I don’t know what others are saying.” Denying any lapse on the
part of the security establishment, he said, “Some casualties are obvious when
there is an operation of this scale.” He said so far there were seven
casualties — six Air Force men, which included five Defence Security Corps
personnel and a Garuda commando, and one NSG officer, Lt Colonel Niranjan.
Eight IAF personnel and 12 NSG commandos were also injured.

Asked when the
operation would be over, DG (Air Operations) of IAF Air Marshal Anil Khosla said
they were not sure about that.

Salwinder said he was not in the
detention of any security agency, after his reported questioning all day
yesterday.

A departmental Sexual Harassment
Committee headed by an IG-rank officer had visited Gurdaspur last week after
five women constables, posted with the district police, accused him of sexual
harassment. A senior official involved in the inquiry said the SP was
transferred pending further inquiry and on administrative grounds to PAP,
Jalandhar, two days before the terrorists waylaid him.

It is ironical that the SP_is a
prime witness as well as a suspect, considering the coincidence that he was
travelling on the route taken by the terrorists in the wee hours.

While being questioned on his
kidnapping claims, investigators are also probing his personal conduct.

Pathankot SSP RK Bakshi,
however, said that Salwinder was a complainant and not a suspect, “He is
neither an accused nor a suspect. The other complaints against him are
unrelated with the Pathankot police or with the terror attack.”

“Fifteen terrorists have sneaked
into India to carry out some major attack on New Year.” This message was sent
to all police districts by DGP (Intelligence) Anil Kumar Sharma on December 26,
six days before a group of terrorists waylaid a Punjab Police SP.

If the Intelligence input was
indeed credible, the terrorists remained in the area for a long time and went
untraced despite the alert.

Despite this alert, which senior
officials term a general alert, the terrorists were able to kidnap a police
officer and take away his blue beacon SUV, besides another Innova, and attack
the Air Force station.

Sources said IG (Counter
Intelligence) Pramod Ban had spoken to the SSPs of various districts,
especially border districts, to work on the inputs.

“We get such general alerts. The
information was not specific about Punjab. Still, we took it seriously. We
intensified night patrolling, set up more ‘nakas’ and increased general vigil.
More force was alerted when the SP incident came to light,” an officer said.

Garnala village near
Ambala City went into mourning soon after hearing the shocking news of Gursewak
Singh, who attained martyrdom in the Pathankot terror attack yesterday. The
village wore a sombre look as most shops remain closed.

The body of the
martyr would be airlifted from Adampur (Punjab) to Ambala air base this evening
for the last rites in his village. Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said the
martyr would be cremated with full state honours. Gursewak served the Garud
Commando Force, a Special Forces unit of the Indian Air Force in Adampur.

Even as people
mourned the death of Gursewak, his father, Sucha Singh, said he was proud of
his son’s supreme sacrifice for the country. He said he got the information
about the martyrdom of his son from his elder son, who is also an Army officer.
Later he confirmed the incident with senior officers of the Garud Commando
Force.

Sucha Singh said
Gursewak was very intelligent and cleared the Air Force exam in his first
attempt six years ago after completing his graduation. His idol was Shaheed
Bhagat Singh, he added.

Gursewak is survived
by his wife Jaspreet, to whom he was married around one and half months ago,
parents and an elder brother. Gursewak’s village friends could not believe he
is no more as it was just last Sunday they had met him. One of the village
youths, Amarpreet, said Gursewak was very bold since childhood and he never
wanted to face defeat in the life. Heath Minister Anil Vij visited Gursewak’s
residence today to share the family’s grief.

Haryana to give Rs
20 lakh

Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced financial assistance of Rs 20
lakh to the next of kin of Gursewak Singh, a resident of village Garnala in
Ambala, who was killed in the Pathankot attack. He said martyr Gursewak Singh
has done the state and the country proud.

In a condolence
message, the Chief Minister expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved
family and prayed to the Almighty that the departed soul might rest in peace.
“Brave soldiers of Haryana have always defended the borders of the country and
never hesitated to sacrifice their lives for maintaining the security and
integrity of the country. Such brave men sacrificing their lives for their
country remain immortal and their sacrifice always inspires fellow countrymen,”
the CM said. TNS

Located on the
northern tip of Punjab just about 40 km from the India-Pakistan international
border and close to the Punjab-Jammu and Kashmir-Himachal Pradesh inter-state
boundaries, the Pathankot Air Force Station is a tactically important base.

Part of the Western
Air Command, it is home to No. 18 Wing, currently being commanded by Air
Commodore JS Dhamoon.

The 108 Squadron
“Hawkeyes” that fly the MiG-21 fighters and the 125 Helicopter Unit
“Gladiators” that operate the Mi-35 helicopter gunships in support of the Army
are based here, besides a Pechora air defence missile squadron and other
auxiliary outfits.

The air base is
spread over 75 acres and in November 2006, a civil enclave attached to it for
commercial flights was inaugurated in November 2006 by Praful Patel, the then
minister for civil aviation. However, no civilian domestic flights operate from
this airport.

The air base saw
action during the Indo-Pak wars. It was the target of Pakistani special forces
during the 1965 War though no real damage was done. An air strike was launched
on it by Pakistan in 1971 in which part of the runway was damaged.

It has also seen
mobilisation during other operations such as Safed Sagar during the 1999 Kargil
conflict and Parakram in 2002 after the terrorist attack on Parliament in
December 2001 as well as training exercises.

A Lieutenant Colonel
heading the National Security Guards’ (NSG) bomb disposal squad was among the
seven fatalities in the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force station.
Five NSG commandos were among the 20 who sustained injuries.

The high number of
casualties and injuries despite “specific Intelligence inputs” is being viewed
in security circles with concern. Particularly a senior officer of an elite
counter-terrorist force losing his life during sanitisation operations. A
commando from the IAF’s Garud special force, Gursevek Singh, was also killed.

Lt Col Niranjan E
Kumar was commissioned into 10 Engineer Regiment in 2004 and moved to the NSG
on deputation in May 2014. He leaves behind his wife and an 18-month-old daughter.
The last rites are scheduled to be performed at his hometown, Palakkad in
Kerala, tomorrow.

The mortal remains
would be airlifted to Bengaluru and thereafter ferried by road.

A tweet by the Home
Minister, Rajnath Singh, stated that the officer was killed in “mopping-up
operations”. Reports suggested that the NSG casualties occurred due to an
explosion from either an IED that the terrorists were carrying or a
booby-trapped body that was moved by them. One of the NSG jawans, Bhoop Singh,
who sustained serious head injuries, has been airlifted to Chandigarh.

Hailing from Ambala,
IAF commando Gursevak had been hit during the initial gunfire. He carried on
fighting and later succumbed to his injuries. He got married a month ago.

Most of the other
fatalities were from the Defence Security Corps (DSC), a branch comprising
retired armed forces personnel who are reemployed for undertaking guard duties
at military establishments. They included 51-year-old national shooting
champion Subedar Fateh Singh and Hav Kulwant Singh, both of whom were from
Gurdaspur, and jawans Jagdish Singh and Sanjiv Kumar. One of the DSC jawans had
chased a terrorist and killed him with the terrorist’s own weapon before
falling to fire from the other intruders.

While the management
of entry points into military stations is controlled by the Military Police,
Air Force Police or Naval Police, as the case may be, along with armed
active-duty personnel, DSC personnel are deployed on secondary duties such as
guarding buildings and manning internal check-points. They are distinguished
from the regular services by their khaki uniforms.

Some security
experts also pointed out that specially trained dogs could have been deployed
for sanitising operations. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police has recently started
training “commando” dogs, referred to in service parlance as Smart Mopping Up
Dogs (SMUD), for sanitising encounter sites and hide-outs by sniffing out
possible mines, IEDs or booby traps.

A day after the
Pathankot attack began, two Jaish-e-Mohammad militants are suspected to have
sneaked into the national capital and planning high-profile attacks, including
taking hostages. The Delhi Police received specific intelligence input about
the presence of militants.

Delhi Police
Commissioner BS Bassi today held a meeting with his senior officers and discussed
the matter, said the police. The Delhi Police has sought the assistance of
paramilitary forces in securing vital installations in the national capital.
The police have been given companies of paramilitary forces in this regard.

Security has been strengthened
at the Delhi airport, railway stations, bus stands, markets in south and
central Delhi and VIP areas. Delhi Police’s special units, Crime Branch and
Special Cell, have also been made part of the security arrangements.

Bassi also took to
Twitter to request the citizens of Delhi to be alert. He tweeted, “Citizens’
vigil against suspicious persons/ objects/ activities is vital to counter
terrorism. Report anything amiss at no. 100 or helpline 1090.”

Joint Commissioner
of Police (New Delhi district) MK Meena said, “We have given instructions to
ensure round-the-clock checking. Officers’ leave have been cancelled.
Counter-terrorism measures have been put in place. Security around railway and
metro stations has also been beefed up.”

Earlier today, the
Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi train was stopped for a search in Ghaziabad and other
trains were also halted after the northern Railways was alerted about a
possible bomb threat to trains running between Delhi and Kanpur.

“We received a call from the
railway control room in the morning in which they said that they had received
information about a potential bomb threat on a train plying between Delhi and
Kanpur,” a police official said.

Several security personnel are
checking passengers and their luggage at the entry points and the platforms of
the railway stations. Extra vigilance has been placed at the areas, where the
parcels to be transported by trains are kept.

It took just eight
days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise stopover in Lahore for the
inevitable to happen. And it was big. As the security forces battled to quash
the threat, public opinion is being stirred against his judgment about
rebuilding bridges with Pakistan. The Pathankot attack was exactly meant to do
that — bring hostility surging back in the narrative of Indo-Pak ties. The
relationship was about to be rescued from institutional vendors of negativity.
Now Pathankot has happened.

In the context of
both countries trying to turn a new page, the attack and its intensity should
not have been a surprise. There are elements on both sides with a vested
interest in keeping the pot boiling. After about 16 months in office, the Prime
Minister seemed to have put aside his own cultivated hostility towards Pakistan
and, for now, overruled the hawks in his security establishment. He seemed to
be coming to terms with the axiom that domestic and foreign policy imperatives
do not countenance permanent hostility as a workable strategy.

The Opposition’s
initial reaction to the Pathankot was reasonable. Apart from stray pot shots,
the Opposition commended the security forces for their fortitude and desisted
from hauling Modi over the coals for going to Pakistan. While the road to
restoration of civility in bilateral diplomatic ties will be a long haul, Modi
should try to neutralise the domestic
obstructionists wanting to inflame and incite Indian public opinion against
Indo-Pak dialogue in the wake of the Pathankot attack. The challenge before
Modi, if the Pak opening was not another headline grabbing moment, will be to
control the hotheads within his Parivar as well as build bridges with
reasonable sections of the Opposition to isolate the spoilers. The wreckers who
carried out the hits in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Udhampur will return like a
bad penny. Modi will need to curb his own instincts for abolsute power and his colleagues' practiced machismo to
build political consensus and steer India towards a constructive engagement
with Pakistan. He is being tested. He must stay the Lahore course.